By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * )
He is generally regarded as the first serial killer and he's never been caught, so Jack the Ripper's murderous spree during 10 weeks in 1888, when he carved up five prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London, still appals and fascinates.
This is based
on a 500-page "graphic novel" (big comic book) that is more than a little thin on history and becomes even more so when filtered through its directors, Detroit ghetto boys the Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society).
Johnny Depp stars as Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard, who gains stunning psychic insights into crime and criminals shortly after puffing on an opium pipe, a technique not unknown to Sherlock Holmes. He also has a sidekick, his policeman-protector Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane).
Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) is trying to help her sisters out of their plight, which makes her a target for the Ripper. Abberline and Kelly begin an affair. Members of Queen Victoria's family are a little too close to the action, as is the dark figure of the Queen's Surgeon, Sir William Gull (Ian Holm).
Suitably Gothic, suitably gloomy, suitably ghoulish.
* DVD features:
Movie (121min)
Commentary by directors Allen and Albert Hughes, screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, cinematographer Peter Deming and Robbie Coltrane
HBO special: A View From Hell
23 deleted scenes with optional alternate ending
Interactive documentary Jack The Ripper - Six Degrees of Separation
Making of ...
Behind-the-scenes
Image gallery
Storyboard comparisons
Mini-documentary Tour of Whitechapel.
Rental video, DVD: Out now
